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Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell, left, and Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon greet each other before the start of Game 3 of an American League baseball division series, Monday, Oct. 7, 2013, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Joe Maddon's message at the start of the American League Division Series sounded a little like so: "I know who John Farrell is, I just won't tell you."

The Rays skipper named a few character traits he's found around the league in some of his adversaries when asked how Farrell compared to his Boston predecessors.

What came across is that Maddon appears to see a duality: there are managers he can predict and those he can't, more or less. And he wants to believes that when others look at him, they don't know what he'll do.

But what does he think of Farrell?

"Primarily whenever we play somebody, I really try to understand who we are managing against," Maddon said Thursday. "Every guy presents differently, personality‑wise. Also it goes beyond just what's going to happen on the field. I guess, maybe I should say a lot what happens on the field is reflected by their personalities. There's guys that are more risk-takers, guys that are more conservative, guys that really never step outside. There's the guys that are very predictable, too. I'm not going to sit here and tip my hand what I think among the three, but I'm just saying regardless of who we've played, I always am very cognizant of who is in the other dugout and what I believe are their traits. And you look at that combined with the data we get.

"You try to work off that. I know for me, for sure, I try to understand what I do, because you know what they're looking at from the other side, and hopefully one of the words is 'unpredictable,' because that's always a good thing."

Maddon was indeed unpredictable on Monday night, in a 5-4 walk-off win over the Red Sox in Game 3 of the Division Series.

He pulled his designated hitter entirely in the eighth inning, entering the pitcher into the lineup. Right fielder Wil Myers' injury — the rookie had leg cramps and should be fine — led Maddon to the move.

It's not a common choice, particularly in an American League playoff game, and Maddon wasn't shy about explaining his logic post-game. Jose Lobaton, who hit the game-winning homer, batted where he did in the order because of a series of events that started with Myers' exit.

"What happened was we went National League," Maddon said. "Once Wil went out, we could have popped Sam (Fuld) in that spot. Had we done that, that would have locked Sam in that spot and I didn't want to lock us into one guy. Whenever your DH can play defense, that really permits you to do other things. Sometimes DH's can't play defense. And when they can't play defense, you can't make that particular move. But when you can, it kind of pushes back the next decision regarding who is going to hit where."

"For instance with (pinch-hitter Delmon Young) hitting in the nine-hole (in place of catcher Jose Molina in the eighth), then I can move the catcher (Lobaton) into the four-hole. So again, it's total National League. The interesting part of that game."

Farrell decided to pull his designated hitter, too — for a pinch-runner in the eighth inning. That move was more conventional: he maintained the position in the lineup and kept the bat out of a pitcher's hands.

How the rest of that inning unfolded presents an interesting question of predictability. The game was tied at 3. David Ortiz had reached base for a fourth straight time, and Farrell decided to enter pinch-runner Quintin Berry in place of his best hitter.

Ortiz said he was OK with the decision to be taken out, and Farrell said he "didn't want to miss an opportunity."

"No, I don't second‑guess that pinch-run move there," Farrell said.

As the inning unfolded without a run for the Sox, Farrell chose not to pinch-hit for Jarrod Saltalamacchia or Stephen Drew with hard-throwing left-hander Jake McGee on the mound. Both Sox hitters have serious trouble with southpaws.

Drew's line against lefty pitching in the second half: .207/.250/.329. Saltalamacchia's: .217/.284/.317.

"McGee has been dominant against right‑handed hitters," Farrell said. "He's almost a right‑handed reliever in some ways because of the strong reverse splits he has. Stephen is a good fastball hitter. We know McGee is going to come at us with 95 percent fastballs, if not more. There was no hesitation to leave Stephen at the plate."

What specific "strong reverse splits" Farrell was looking at isn't known. If just the second-half numbers in 2013, then such firm wording makes sense: McGee's line against righties after the All-Star Break was .226/.296/.355. Against southpaws, .290/.353/.452.

On the season and in McGee's career, however, the difference isn't nearly as pronounced. He has a .235/.295/.383 line against lefties vs. a .217/.287/.362 clip vs. righties. That's not really a "dominant" performance, as Farrell alluded to.

Farrell may not ever consider pinch-hitting his catcher in the playoffs, because the team is carrying only two catchers. McGee does throw almost exclusively fastballs, and he sat at 97 mph this year. Drew and Saltalamacchia are two of Boston's better fastball hitters.

But both are mostly useless against lefties, reverse splits for the reliever or not. Farrell chose not to play a traditional lefty-righty match-up when some logic could have supported it, particularly after his decision to pinch-run Ortiz added extra urgency to score at that moment.

The top of the eighth worked out for Maddon. Whether he found it predictable — whether it played out how he expected it to from the other dugout — is intriguing.

"I've known John from the days," Maddon said before the series. "I've talked about — when he was rehabbing with the California Angels, in Mesa, (Ariz.), Gene Autry Park, and he was trying to make a comeback. So John and I go way back to that moment when he was working out and trying to get well. So I kind of know him personality‑wise."